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Paige is already backstage by the time Eileen manages to walk over, her head still spinning. Hayden is here... he's here, she thinks, and it hurts her head. All this time avoiding him and he shows up at her concert. In the back of her mind, she takes note of the fact that the concert tickets were $20 - did Hayden pay for a ticket just to see me? Eileen rolls her eyes at the thought, realizing she's just making assumptions. Hayden could be here to see his other friends - or worse, whatever girl he's playing with now. But all of those thoughts go down the drain when Paige grabs her by the shoulders, practically shaking her out of her heels.
"Did you know that they were coming?" Paige demanded, her tone excited yet interrogative and annoyed at the same time. "I mean, I know Will told me he was coming just to see my performance but then he had a family dinner afterwards, but what about him?"
Eileen stares at her, her jaw slack and a confused expression on her face. She's still trying to process the fact that she just saw Hayden, and Paige yelling about her boyfriend coming isn't helping. "W-what?" Eileen finally manages to blurt out.
Paige groans and doesn't bother replying. Instead, she takes Eileen by the wrist and walks her out of the backstage area. She drags her all the way into the hallway leading to their dressing room and stops in an alcove just outside the door.
"Can't talk in the room because my whole dance crew is there and they're nosy as hell," Paige mutters more to herself than to Eileen. "Anyway, you know who I'm talking about."
Eileen looks at her, yanking her wrist out of her friend's grasp. "First of all, ouch," she snaps. She looks up and down the hall, ensuring that it's empty then says, "Second, yes. Hayden, obviously."
"Good, because I'm not in the mood for your denial," Paige snaps back, but Eileen knows she's joking.
"What do you mean denial?" Eileen demands, a little annoyed that this is what her friend greets her with after her performance. "I'm not denying anything. I know you're referring to Hayden and Will when you say 'they', but I didn't know he was gonna be here."
Eileen crosses her arms, her temper rising as she spoke. She's so relieved to have survived her last performance of the year and all she wants is to celebrate and relax, not deal with whatever Paige is throwing at her.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry," Paige says quietly. "I didn't mean to sound so accusing. It just surprised me - wait, how do you know Hayden's here? Will only texted me about him leaving Hayden here during your performance."
Eileen sighs, one hand tugging at the bracelet that's on her other wrist. "I saw him," she finally says. "He was in the audience, standing by the door. He was watching me perform..."
Paige's mouth dropped, and she's overcome with excitement. "He came to see you perform? Oh my god. Oh my god, he came to see you perform. Eileen, oh my god. Tickets are not that cheap, you know. He had to have paid for one if he managed to get into the theatre... And oh my - tickets were all sold out last week, remember? Which means he bought one last week or even before that."
